Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - There are two teams in the Eastern Conference the Buffalo Sabres haven’t played more than halfway through the 2024-25 season: The Tampa Bay Lightning and Wednesday’s opponent, the Carolina Hurricanes.
Buffalo hasn’t played since Saturday, and are now 11 points out of a playoff spot in the conference.
Jiri Kulich was on the ice for the Sabres' morning skate after missing two games with a lower-body injury. Head coach Lindy Ruff says they will ramp him up this week.
"He’s been skating. I would anticipate that Friday’s a longshot, but should be good to go after that. But I wouldn’t rule out Friday," said Ruff on Wednesday.
Mattias Samuelsson practiced hard on Monday and Tuesday after missing two games due to illness. Ruff says he’s had a bit of a relapse.
"He’s been on and off with the sickness, thought it was away, but came back a little," Ruff noted. "But felt better again yesterday, so we’re just trying to evaluate where he’s at. We’ll just see how he feels after he skates this morning, so he could still be a possibility."
Beck Malenstyn has been practicing and is likely to return after missing three games due to illness.
Buffalo’s power play had been going very well, but recently, they’re just 1-for-10. They’ve also given up a power goal in three of their last five games.
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Carolina holds down third place in the Metropolitan Division. Overall, they’re eighth in the NHL with a points percentage of .625. They’re sixth in the league in goal scoring and ninth in goals-against. They are second in the league at penalty killing.
The Hurricanes have just five wins in 11 games. In their last seven, the power play has sputtered, going 1-for-19. The penalty kill has also struggled, killing 20-of-25.
Against Buffalo, though, Carolina is 16-2-1 in their last 19 games. At home against Carolina, the Sabres are 3-1-3 in their last seven.
Sebastian Aho has feasted on the Sabres in his career, scoring 15 goals and 13 assists for 28 points in just 19 games.
This season, Aho has 13 goals and 31 assists for 44 points in 44 games. However, he’s not Carolina’s leading scorer.
Martin Necas has 15 goals and 35 assists for 50 points in the same amount of games.
With Freddie Andersen hurt for most of the season, 25-year-old Pyotr Kochetkov has taken over the crease. He’s 16-9-2 this season with a 2.54 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage.
Quite a few former Sabres are on this Carolina team.
Dustin Tokarksi backs up Kochetkov, and is 4-1-0 this season with a 2.00 goals-against average and a .907 save percentage.
Eric Robinson has 10 goals and 11 assists for 21 points in 44 games.
Will Carrier has four goals and five assists for nine points in 39 games.
Tyson Jost has two goals and two points in 16 games.
Wednesday is a radio only game, so join the Bulldog for pregame coverage on WGR starting at 5 p.m. when you’ll hear from Ruff, Bo Byram and Dennis Gilbert.